Monday, August 10, 2009

Learning our lessons

With my Mom visiting, we've been a bit out of our routine lately. Which is not such a huge deal, but last night it messed us up big time.

Usually at bedtime, Fred bathes Elise, while I get her snack and shot ready. But my Mom loves bath time with Elise, so Fred and I have sort of divvied up the other tasks. Last night we had the added confusion of a low (56) before her bath, so we were scrambling to get some carbs into Elise, then re-test, fix her snack and get the insulin ready.

To make a very long story short, Elise woke us up at 3:30 this morning. She was crying and asking for water, which is usually a sign of a low. I stayed in bed as Fred went to test her, but snapped wide awake when I heard him calling me frantically over the baby monitor.

"Joanne... get up! Where's the ketone monitor? She's 560!"

I don't think I have ever gotten out of bed so quickly. She was 1.8 on the ketone meter, and then it hit us... we had forgotten her bedtime NPH. We had given her 6g of carbs for the low, 15g of carbs for her snack, but no insulin for overnight. Talk about feeling like the worst parents in the world.

What should have tipped us off that there was a problem was the fact that she was 360 before we went to bed. But we have seen numbers like that before at night, and she wakes up fine the next morning. We should have checked her again, but we didn't.

After calling the after-hours number, we gave her the sliding scale. If I had sat and thought about it long enough, I wouldn't have needed to call, but this had never happened before, and I wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing.

She woke up high (356 ) and with ketones (1.8), but was normal at lunch and even low (55) when she woke up from her nap.

Fred and I had been feeling pretty good about things D-wise lately, but it seems when we get lulled into that false sense of security that diabetes rears it's ugly head and bites you in the bum.

After working my whole life in the medical world, I have come to one conclusion. Dr.'s get paid big bucks. Never hesitate if you need help! You do a great job, every mom goes on overload....let alone baby diabetic overload. It is over and done. Move forward.

Hi Joanne-- Oh have we been there! I completely understand! I don't mind one bit if you add me! I will add you as well! Thanks for commenting! I really appreciate it. Your daughter is so cute. Sorry you are dealing with it so young. sniff sniff. Sounds like you are doing a fab job though.

Oh- I've SO been there! One morning- not long after her diagnosis- we were going to get donuts (Shipley Donuts- I MISS THEM!) and I left her insulin at home. Well- we got sidetracked and completely forgot about the insulin! I hadn't even given her the morning dose of lantus! Needless to say- the meter read HI and she was miserable! I felt so d-u-m-b!

On another note---I think you and/or your husband knows a college friend of mine! :) I looked at some of your web pages (including Freds) and saw that you go to Irving Bible Church (been there!). Shawn Bettes was in my circle of friends during college and he dated one of my best friends and roommates! So- I got curious and checked Shawn's friend list and sure enough- there's your husband! Such a small world! I've also noticed his @helpmefred twitter updates on Shawn's FB page!By the way- I think IBC is an incredible church! We spent 3 Sundays there in September 06 while Jeff was training to work for Bostons and we spent several very warm September days with the kids playing in the HUGE jungle gym/slide play area! It's really a small world!

About This Blog

I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. I am just a Mom whose little girl has Type 1 Diabetes. On this blog you will find tips and advice, but it should NEVER be a substitute for your doctor's wisdom. If your child has diabetes, or you suspect that your child has diabetes, please seek the attention of a healthcare professional, and not some crazy, over-worked, frazzled, sleep-deprived nutjob who has staked out her corner of the world-wide-web-information-super-highway and is espousing her viewpoints from it.